Simhachalam inscriptions of Krishnadeva Raya (1516–1519)

The records

V. Rangacharya’s list of 1919 gives three Telugu records of “the Vijayanagara king Krishnaraya” in the Simhachalam temple.¹ The Government Epigraphist copied them in 1899.¹ They are:¹

• No. 243 of 1899, “on the base of the asthanamantapa in the first enclosure”, which records in Saka 1438 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), Dhatri, “the presentation of a number of jewels to the temple”¹
• No. 244, on the base of the same hall, which records in Saka 1441, Pramathin, a “gift of several villages”¹
• No. 245, “on a round pillar on the verandah running round the garbhagriha” (the central shrine), which records in Saka 1438 “gifts of jewels by himself and by his two queens Chinnadevamma and Tirumaladevamma”¹

Saka 1438 is 1516–17, and Saka 1441 is 1519–20.¹ The Telugu texts were printed without translation in 1928, in the sixth volume of South-Indian Inscriptions, as Nos. 694 to 696.²³ See Simhachalam and the Simhachalam temple.

The king’s first campaign

In 1898 G. R. Subramiah Pantulu printed a translation of the pillar inscription in the Indian Antiquary.⁴ It was “culled from the local records, of the District of Vizagapatam”.⁴ In it, the king is “reigning at Vijayanagara”.⁴ He is described as “having come on his first campaign and subdued the fortresses of Udayagiri, Kondavidu, Kondapalli, Rajamahendri, etc.”.⁴ Then he “came to Simhadri and visited the place in S. S. 1438 on the twelfth day of the black fortnight of the month of Chaitra of the Dhatu year”.⁴

There he made gifts “for the salvation of his mother Nagadevamma and his father Narasaraya”.⁴ He “gave to God one necklace of 991 pearls, a pair of diamond bangles”, and a gold plate of 2,000 pagodas’ weight (pagodas were gold coins).⁴ He also gave gold padakas (pendants) through his two wives.⁴ The record says “through his wife Chinnadevamma, a gold padaka of 500 pagoda weight and one of a similar weight through his other wife Tirumaladevamma”.⁴

Subramiah Pantulu used the record to show that the king had two wives.⁴ He placed three years of literary discussion at court between this campaign and the king’s second campaign.⁴ See Krishnadeva Raya.

The Vizagapatam gazetteer of 1907 summarised the campaign.⁵⁶ In 1515, it says, Krishnadeva “seized Udayagiri in Nellore, Kondavidu (taking prisoner Pratapa Rudra’s son), Kondapalli in Kistna, Rajahmundry and other fortresses”.⁵⁶ He then “halted at Simhadri (Simhachalam) and set up the pillar of victory at Potnuru”.⁵⁶ The gazetteer adds that “The Simhachalam temple still contains inscriptions recounting his successes”.⁵⁶ They tell “how he and his queens presented the god with a necklace of 991 pearls and other costly gifts.”⁵⁶ See Potnuru.

Nuniz’s story of an insulting inscription

The Portuguese chronicler Nuniz tells a story about the temple at “Symamdary”.⁶ Krishnadeva was angry that the Gajapati refused to fight.⁶ So, Nuniz says, he had an inscription cut there, daring the king of Orissa to erase it, at the price of his wife.⁶

The gazetteer doubted the story.⁶ “If this insulting threat was really ever inscribed,” it wrote, “it is not likely to have been allowed to remain on record a moment after it could be safely deleted”.⁶ It added that “it is not now to be found at Simhachalam.”⁶ Robert Sewell had taken Nuniz’s Symamdary for Rajahmundry.⁶ The gazetteer thought that Nuniz’s distance of “a hundred leagues” from Kondapalli suits Simhachalam better.⁶ The question is discussed on the Gajapatis page.

Footnotes

1. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. III (1919), p. 1675, Vizagapatam Nos. 71–73 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. South-Indian Inscriptions (Texts), Vol. VI (1928), p. 260, No. 694 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

3. South-Indian Inscriptions (Texts), Vol. VI (1928), p. 261, Nos. 695 and 696 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

4. G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, “Discursive Remarks on the Augustan Age of Telugu Literature”, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 296 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

5. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 28 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Francis, Vizagapatam Gazetteer, Vol. I (1907), p. 29 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³